FarmTina

Guest Blogger: Ever Heard of Flexitarianism?

One of my oldest friends Melissa (we went to kindergarten together!) and her husband E.J. (we met at my 10-year highschool reunion!) are scientists, foodies and writers. They had some interesting things to say about flexitarianism, so I asked them to write a guest post and educate us all. They have Ph.Ds, which means they are way more qualified than I am to be telling you about pretty much anything. Don't forget to check out Melissa's food blog Melissa Eats Broccoli and Squash.

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The next time you want to help the environment, eat a PB & J.

Or eat anything else you like that happens not to contain meat. If you do that just once a week, you’ll be doing wonders for the environment! What’s important here is that you do NOT have to become a vegetarian to have an earth-friendly diet, contrary to some popular beliefs. All you have to do is eat a teeny-tiny bit less meat than you do now.

What you eat matters. We think this is a valuable point to consider, especially if you recycle, bike, follow the “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” rule, or do other earth-friendly things. If you combined all of those little efforts and multiplied them by a thousand, their helpfulness would still pale in comparison to the help you’d be giving the environment by eating just a little less meat. Consider these statistics:

• If every American substituted one meal of chicken per week with a vegetarian alternative, it would be the same as taking a half a million cars off the road.
• If every American had one beef-free meal per week, it would be equivalent to taking over 5 million cars off the road.
• One meat-free day per week is the same as taking 8 million cars off the road.

You get the picture. 

Is Earth Day Legit?

So. Everybody is all a-buzz about Earth Day today.

Maybe it's the fact that I work in marketing so I know the tricks, or just that I'm skeptical of anything generating buzz online, but my first thought when I heard the morning Earth Day stories on the radio today was this: Is this holiday actually legit or is it just another fake holiday meant to push sales- in this case, sales of greenwashed products, crappy women's magazine stories about "going green", and events where they serve green-colored cocktails?

Luckily, my coworker Andrew had all the answers. Andrew Rozas developed a youth outreach campaign for Earth Day 2010, a mass gathering in Washington, D.C. to celebrate our world, educate the public, and raise awareness for current environmental issues. Andrew told me that, yes, Earth Day actually is a legitimate grassroots holiday that has gained momentum over the years and become a world-wide celebration, and yes, it is a positive and educational movement. (And by the way ladies, Andrew is single and he's a cutie.)

The first Earth Day was meant to be an environmental education "teach-in" in April of 1970, and through strong activism and networking, it ended up drawing participants in 2,000 colleges and universities, plus communities and schools around the country. It is estimated that 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day!

A demonstration during the first Earth Day, 1970

Something that I found very interesting-- Earth Day founder Senator Nelson has stated that the first Earth Day was directly responsible for persuading U.S. politicians that environmental issues were important to the people of this country, and therefore would be an important thing for the government to act on.

If you're stuck in your cubicle today and want to find a way to contribute to Earth Day, download the E4RTH mixtape from WeAreE4RTH.com. Every download donates 10 cents to the Earth Day Network. And if you want to check out Earth from an outsider's point of view, NASA is tweeting Earth images all day.

So what have you been doing to inspire Earth-love today?

On Animal Cruelty and Eating My Rabbits

I've gotten some feedback about my plans to raise and eat rabbits that accuses me of animal cruelty. While I can truly appreciate passion for any cause, especially issues of humanity and compassion, I think this accusation is coming from an emotional place instead of a rational one.

People can't see past the cuteness of rabbits. We personify rabbits in story books and Easter tales, and you can look a "bunny" in the eyes and melt over his fluffy fur and floppy ears. Do you get the same feeling about a dirty grunting farm pig, or a slimy salmon? Rabbits, pigs and fish are animals that are low on the foodchain and commonly domesticated for food, yet the cuteness of rabbits seems to be putting them in a different emotional category. We've all had pet goldfish, but when a boy goes fishing with his grandpa, no one says, "Aww, what about the cute little fishy?"

If I am not killing my own meat, then someone else is going to be doing it far less humanely in a slaughterhouse. The more we can separate ourselves from the slaughterhouse industry (either by living a vegetarian lifestyle, handling the slaughter of our own meat, or creating relationships with local farms), the less of a demand there will be for this type of treatment towards animals. Killing my own food is actually a step towards preventing animal cruelty.

Photo of a commercial turkey farm from flickr user Jaci Berkopec

Animal cruelty is the act of hurting an animal and allowing it live to feel the pain, such as beating a dog, or cutting off the tusks of a living elephant. It is knowing an animal is in pain and then consciously allowing it to continue suffering.

Animal cruelty is also killing an animal without intending to use all of it's parts, such as hunting for sport and then discarding the kill, or poaching gorillas for nothing other than their prized feet and hands. It is killing a goose for it's delicious liver and then throwing away the rest of the carcass.

Animal cruelty is forcing a large animal to live in a small cage, feeding it hormones so that it's meat becomes so swollen that it's own legs break under the weight, and then killing the animal on an assembly line so it can be sent off to KFC. Check out the documentary Food, Inc if you don't believe this happens.

Samin Nosrat, the chef from my Complete Rabbit class, has some interesting things to say about the same topic. What are your thoughts?

Raising Rabbits, Part Two: The Tough Part

I've been working towards the next big step in my urban homesteading experiment: I'm raising rabbits on FarmTina, which I plan to eat. You can read about my motives in my recent rabbit post, but to sum it up, I'm trying to make more of a connection to my food and take responsibility for what I eat. Someone out there is already killing the meat that ends up on my plate every day, so why shouldn't that someone be me?

To do this right, my boyfriend Michael and I took a class in Brooklyn with Novella Carpenter and Samin Nosrat called The Complete Rabbit. The class was even covered by the NY Times, and they published photos of Michael and I going through the whole process with the class! I took the class to be absolutely sure that raising, killing, and eating rabbits was something I could actually do- both technically AND mentally.

Killing an animal is not something that I take lightly. Humans fought their way to the top of the food chain, but modern conveniences have made it possible to go through an entire meat-eating leather-wearing life without ever actually facing the death of an animal yourself. I have come to believe that if I can't handle killing my own food, even just once, then I have no right being a meat eater.

Warning! If you keep reading, you will see photos of my first experience slaughtering rabbits.

Raising Rabbits For Food

I call my space a "farm" instead of a "garden" because I am slowly rolling out my plan to incorporate animals into FarmTina. My first big jump is going to be into the art of rabbit husbandry. Don't be alarmed, my dear readers: I plan to eat my rabbits.

Photo from flickr user peet-astn

I've noticed that the idea of raising rabbits for food upsets people, so please give me a chance to explain myself!

You don't need me to expose you to the wonderful world of meat production in the United States. Animals are fed hormones, raised in terrible conditions, and slaughtered on assembly lines by desensitized workers. This bastardization of the food chain is affecting our nutrition, our environment, and the genetics of the world's animal population.

Vegetarianism and Veganism are two lifestyles that I absolutely support and admire, and they are excellent ways to reduce the demand for commercial meat, which would ideally reduce it's production. But it's just not for me.

To separate myself from the commercial meat industry, I'm choosing to raise and slaughter rabbits for food in my New York City backyard. Here's why:

Growing Corn: Oh, The Mistakes I've Made!

I'd like to tell you a tale about corn, namely, the 10 corn plants that were once growing in a little place in Brooklyn called FarmTina.

Corn growing in FarmTina, June 2010. Photo by Josh Roxas

I originally wanted to grow corn in my garden because it just looks so darn cool. It's pretty impressive to have giant cornstalks towering over my backyard fence, and since I'm a visual person, it was really important that my garden be growing on every visual plane between one and ten feet. It was also important that when people visited FarmTina, they said, "Ooh, wow!".

Apparently, I need to get my priorities straight. Growing corn was not such a good idea for me... Here is my saga:

A Beekeeper in Brooklyn

When I visited Montreal a few weeks ago, I noticed immediately that the city, which is full of gardens and public planted spaces, had a booming bee population. But I was surprised to see that so many people were swatting at the bees as if they were pests. I thought it was common knowledge that a bee only stings when provoked! Swatting at a bee is just as stupid as walking up to a coyote and throwing rocks at it. If the bee is minding his own business, just leave the little dude alone.

Bees play a HUGE role in the agricultural system. Without honeybees to pollinate our plants, our tomato plants and corn stalks and bean vines would not produce any food. That's why the mysterious death of so many bees in the last 4 years is such a scary phenomenon: less bees in the world ultimately means a lot less food.

Up until March of 2010, keeping bees in New York City was actually illegal. Bees were seen as a danger to the community, especially in a city where buildings are so close together that your neighbor's beehive would essentially be your beehive. But after years of dealing with the dwindling bee population, and the support of Michelle Obama installing a beehive at The White House, the laws have changed and beekeeping is now in full swing in NYC!

I met Tim O'Neal, a beekeper who raises bees just a few blocks away from FarmTina in Brooklyn- I like to think that it's his bees who have been pollinating my plants! Tim answered all of my questions about beekeeping in the city, and he even teaches a class on the subject at Brooklyn Brainery. Registration is still open if you'd like to sign up- classes start September 29th.

Tim's partner in crime Philippe and their rooftop apiary

FarmTina: The first question I think everyone wants to know... WHY?! Why beekeeping? And why do it in a place like Brooklyn?

Cucumber problem: FIXED!

Oh hey, how's it going? Good, good. How am I? Oh, no news here. I fixed my unfixable cucumber problem, no big deal, I might be a genius, but whatever. Please, you don't need to be so excited, it was really very simple. Please stop crying and yelling "You are like Zeus!", I know I am the best farmer in the world, but you're embarrassing me.

How did I fix the problem, you ask? Well, I have a few minutes before my Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, so I'll tell you...

Becoming a Real Farmer 101

Who's gonna go live on a farm in rural New York and learn how to design a sustainable homestead in the city? THIS GIRL!! (enthusiastically points to self)

Photo: Better Farms girls by Erin Covey